HID kits, Legal or Illegal??

[camrtm3]

So, I was looking into HID kits to try to get a true Xenon light out of my lights. Was talking to my friends before asking my question here and one of my friends gave me this link.

http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...erformance.jsp

So apparently its legal to have a HID kit if its stock to the car out of the factory, but illegal to put it in as an after market thing in all 50 states. Can I get your alls thoughts on this. I'm still looking for a true similar xenon light then if this is true.

Thanks

[CamReddy]

i live in indiana and ive been driving around with 10,000 K xenons for a year and a half, not one problem. iv'e also been in illinois, ohio, and kentucky with them and not one stop or problem. i'd go with a 6000K kit if i was you, they are the whitest and closest to stock xenon look (like lexus) look for them on ebay and find out what size your stock bulbs are, most likely 9006 and order a kit on ebay they are quite nice and are a direct plug n play kit, NO cutting needed which is great.

[bigbird]

i have HIDs and have had them on my gen3 and never had any problems with "the man".

[El Tano]

I DON'T THINK THEY ARE ILLEGAL SINCE THERE ARE CAR THAT COMES WITH IT (ooops caps) but the need to be used you need with the right combination, like reflectors. The hids were designed to use with reflectors to centralaize(?) the light to the road. If you use the hid's with the regular headlights they spread the light everywhere bothering the incoming traffic, "THEN" it's when it becomes illegal..

[bigbird]

well i can tell ya it is illegal in MD, they dont want them used in vehicles whithout them stock because the parts may not be able to hold up to the high temps created by the lights. but also im MD, they dont really care unless ur blinding people.

[desentrix]

They are not illegal if the car came with it stock out of the factory.

The main reason is to reduce glare to oncoming traffic. Irresponsible people outfit HIDs into halogen projectors (with squirrel spotters) as well as reflective housings and blind people with the straying light.

If you're going to do aftermarket HID, spend the extra $ or time and retrofit, or install cutoff shields.

['_']

Originally Posted by desentrix

They are not illegal if the car came with it stock out of the factory.

The main reason is to reduce glare to oncoming traffic. Irresponsible people outfit HIDs into halogen projectors (with squirrel spotters) as well as reflective housings and blind people with the straying light.

If you're going to do aftermarket HID, spend the extra $ or time and retrofit, or install cutoff shields.

+1. Make sure there's no glare when you install them. Also, you're probably gonna attract attention if you have something extreme (really blue or purple).

[tooyoungtoodie]

Originally Posted by bigbird

well i can tell ya it is illegal in MD, they dont want them used in vehicles whithout them stock because the parts may not be able to hold up to the high temps created by the lights. but also im MD, they dont really care unless ur blinding people.

well i didn't kno it's illegal in MD, since i got 4500k not very easy to distinguish or noticable since my car looks like other ordinary car

[camrtm3]

Well I know about and have read about people how didnt install the lights correctly and caused there car to become a huge hazard. Good thing I usually read the instruction to prevent such problems. Now bigbird you mentioned that the "parts" would not hold up to the high temps. I'm assuming that your talking about the head light lamp. Is there a way to asure that it doesn't over heat, or is the heat the equivalent to a halogen.

[DarkMastyr]

If it's not DOT approved, it's not legal for use on the road.

Even properly retrofitted headlamps are illegal.

[bigbird]

Originally Posted by camrtm3

Well I know about and have read about people how didnt install the lights correctly and caused there car to become a huge hazard. Good thing I usually read the instruction to prevent such problems. Now bigbird you mentioned that the "parts" would not hold up to the high temps. I'm assuming that your talking about the head light lamp. Is there a way to asure that it doesn't over heat, or is the heat the equivalent to a halogen.

well some of the components may not, but to be honest ive never had a problem with that. just what ive been told by inspection friends. i can tell ya that there are no problems that ive found except glare with the gen3 and an HID setup. but i have had friends in older car melt some things because of the higher temps of HIDs.

Originally Posted by DarkMastyr

If it's not DOT approved, it's not legal for use on the road.

Even properly retrofitted headlamps are illegal.

agreed.

[nuchieboy]

are the mod express hids DOT approved?

[DarkMastyr]

Originally Posted by nuchieboy

are the mod express hids DOT approved?

No. For mod express (or any kit) to be approved for road use on your car, DOT would have to give its stamp of approval for the entire headlight assembly specific to your car (housing + hid kit), which will never happen.

[geoff5093]

As a few others have said, it's legal for cars that come with it stock, HOWEVER it is technically illegal to have HID's in headlights designed for halogen bulbs. Although if done properly, either by aiming the headlights lower on reflector housings or covering up the squirrel spotters on projector housings, then there usually isn't a problem unless you are using HID's that are over 10,000K color temp.

[sky03]

HIDs are only legal if it came with the car from factory
HIDs gives off LESS HEAT and uses LESS POWER... unless u get the 50-55 watt kit

if ur gonna use it, then get 4300k-6000k
reaim ur headlights